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Full Metal Alchemist
Over the last few months, Jethrien and I have been watching Full Metal Alchemist, which I would very much recommend. It's a really impressive blend of silliness and angst (reminding me a little of Buffy in terms of making the two work together, though the sensibilities are different). Despite the fact that it apparently overtook the manga halfway through and the anime writers invented the rest, I thought it held together impressively well (really impressive conservation of detail) and ended in a satisfactory way.
In terms of non-spoiler details: Edward and Alphonse Elric are brothers who, when their mother dies, attempt to use alchemy to bring her back to life--an incredibly forbidden act. The series follows them afterwards as they deal with the consequences, learning about the meaning of family, the horrors of war, and being adults and the choices that entails.
I find it amusing the particular bits of Japanese I've picked up watching this--"niisan" as an affectionate name for "older brother"; "tokka-kokka" referring to "equivalent exchange", one or two others.
The latter is most interesting in that they telegraph in the opening sequence from the very beginning that the law of conservation or "equivalent exchange" isn't a binding principle. "We believed that to be the truth of the world when we were young"--implying that when they grew up, they learned otherwise. Hoeheim explains it best in one of the last episodes, that it's not just enough to have the broken pieces of a clock in "exchange" for a fixed one, the energy to fix it must also come from somewhere. Alchemy actually follows a rather sensible conservation of mass/energy system, as it's much easier to rearrange prexisting matter than to try to form it out of alchemic energy. The red stones seem to break the rules, but really, they're just "worth" more--even the "true" philosopher's stones in the last season get "used up" in human transmutation. There is no free lunch, ever--all alchemic energy must come from some death.
They're also very good about showing that alchemy is a collection of different disciplines that you can specialize in. Roy does amazing things with fire and heat, but never transmutes rocks, water, or people--his skills are specialized. Ditto with Tucker--he's the expert at chimeras, and no one else (not even Ed) is ever shown having the same ability that he does. It's an excellent subversion of the trope of the Omnidisciplinary Scientist--as in real life, being a brilliant biologist doesn't mean you know the first thing about physics.
The other thing I found striking was Ed's assertions from the very beginning that Al was the only family he had, no matter how often that was refuted. It's realistic, certainly, but the last few episodes got out of their way to smack him with what's been obvious to the viewer all along--that he has a huge family behind him. Winry and auntie; Sensai and her family; Roy, Hawkeye, Armstrong and several different groups of soldiers; and even the "fake" Elric brothers. In most other shows, Ed and Al would have "defaulted" into being part of a Nakama early on; and this show makes it clear that Ed's stubbornness and childish temperment are why that doesn't happen here. (It occurs to me that, in the epilogue, given Al's different personality, things might happen differently. There's also the terrifying thought that the epilogue supports, that Barry the Chopper was right the whole time, and that armor-Al was never the "real" Al, only Al's memories.)
Though one criticism that Jethrien pointed out: Given the issues with "l" and "r" sounds in Japanese, why on earth did they use so many names with those sounds in them? Elric. Winry/Winly. Ishbar/Ishbal. Lila/Rila/Lira. Heck, even "Risa" who was probably intended to be "Lisa".
And following that to a translation issue: One of the translation teams (the version we have has several teams doing different episodes) used "Nationally Certified Alchemist" where the other uses "State Alchemist". I suspect that the former implies the degree of "honor" that the phrase implies in Japanese, but I think the latter more accurately gets the role across to an American audience. The rank refers to an alchemist who works for the State, a "dog of the military". The former isn't strong enough, making it seem like an honor but not like a responsibility.
In terms of non-spoiler details: Edward and Alphonse Elric are brothers who, when their mother dies, attempt to use alchemy to bring her back to life--an incredibly forbidden act. The series follows them afterwards as they deal with the consequences, learning about the meaning of family, the horrors of war, and being adults and the choices that entails.
I find it amusing the particular bits of Japanese I've picked up watching this--"niisan" as an affectionate name for "older brother"; "tokka-kokka" referring to "equivalent exchange", one or two others.
The latter is most interesting in that they telegraph in the opening sequence from the very beginning that the law of conservation or "equivalent exchange" isn't a binding principle. "We believed that to be the truth of the world when we were young"--implying that when they grew up, they learned otherwise. Hoeheim explains it best in one of the last episodes, that it's not just enough to have the broken pieces of a clock in "exchange" for a fixed one, the energy to fix it must also come from somewhere. Alchemy actually follows a rather sensible conservation of mass/energy system, as it's much easier to rearrange prexisting matter than to try to form it out of alchemic energy. The red stones seem to break the rules, but really, they're just "worth" more--even the "true" philosopher's stones in the last season get "used up" in human transmutation. There is no free lunch, ever--all alchemic energy must come from some death.
They're also very good about showing that alchemy is a collection of different disciplines that you can specialize in. Roy does amazing things with fire and heat, but never transmutes rocks, water, or people--his skills are specialized. Ditto with Tucker--he's the expert at chimeras, and no one else (not even Ed) is ever shown having the same ability that he does. It's an excellent subversion of the trope of the Omnidisciplinary Scientist--as in real life, being a brilliant biologist doesn't mean you know the first thing about physics.
The other thing I found striking was Ed's assertions from the very beginning that Al was the only family he had, no matter how often that was refuted. It's realistic, certainly, but the last few episodes got out of their way to smack him with what's been obvious to the viewer all along--that he has a huge family behind him. Winry and auntie; Sensai and her family; Roy, Hawkeye, Armstrong and several different groups of soldiers; and even the "fake" Elric brothers. In most other shows, Ed and Al would have "defaulted" into being part of a Nakama early on; and this show makes it clear that Ed's stubbornness and childish temperment are why that doesn't happen here. (It occurs to me that, in the epilogue, given Al's different personality, things might happen differently. There's also the terrifying thought that the epilogue supports, that Barry the Chopper was right the whole time, and that armor-Al was never the "real" Al, only Al's memories.)
Though one criticism that Jethrien pointed out: Given the issues with "l" and "r" sounds in Japanese, why on earth did they use so many names with those sounds in them? Elric. Winry/Winly. Ishbar/Ishbal. Lila/Rila/Lira. Heck, even "Risa" who was probably intended to be "Lisa".
And following that to a translation issue: One of the translation teams (the version we have has several teams doing different episodes) used "Nationally Certified Alchemist" where the other uses "State Alchemist". I suspect that the former implies the degree of "honor" that the phrase implies in Japanese, but I think the latter more accurately gets the role across to an American audience. The rank refers to an alchemist who works for the State, a "dog of the military". The former isn't strong enough, making it seem like an honor but not like a responsibility.
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One of the most heartbreaking moments is when Hughes dies, though. I hope he fares better in the new series, but I doubt it...
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